The first chief engineer of the Panama Canal project, John Findley Wallace, resigned in frustration after only a year on the isthmus. His departure left a void that would soon be filled by a visionary engineer who would change the course of history.
After a Spanish-led consortium won the right to build locks for bigger ships at a rock-bottom price, internal arguments soon gave way to a groundbreaking idea. It was realized that the Panama Canal required a series of locks between the two oceans to make the passage feasible for large vessels.
Episode 5 of Deborah Cadbury's BBC documentary series, “The Seven Wonders of the Industrial World,” is the story of the most expensive and ambitious engineering project of its time. The Panama Canal was a feat that would reshape global trade and transportation forever.
At the time it was built, the canal was an engineering marvel, relying on a series of locks that lift ships – and their thousands of pounds of cargo – across the varying elevations of the isthmus. It was a testament to human ingenuity and perseverance.
Nine years after a project to expand the Panama Canal began construction, it's done. And a couple of Denver-area CEOs are among the few who have witnessed firsthand the completion of this monumental undertaking.
Shortly after taking office, TR said of the Panama Canal that, 'No single great material work which remains to be undertaken on this continent is as of such importance to the American people.'
In 1914, the Panama Canal connected the world's two largest oceans. American ingenuity and innovation had succeeded where the French had failed. The canal became a symbol of progress and a testament to human achievement.
